Kerry Shook - Overcoming Barriers
One of the craziest "Shark Week" specials aired in 2003 when shark researcher Erich Ritter, who said his knowledge of shark behavior kept him from being bitten, lost part of his leg when he was bitten by a bull shark while the cameras were rolling and Ritter intentionally walked into waist-deep water just swarming with bull sharks, so Discovery Channel viewers could see that he could keep sharks from attacking him by modifying his heart rate and by understanding the shark's body language.
Apparently, the sharks were speaking a different language that day, because they nearly bit his leg off. It's one thing to swim in the ocean and not let the fact that sharks are probably swimming around you, and you just can't see them, especially Galveston, when you can't see anything under the water. It's one thing to know that sharks are probably swimming around you, but not let that distract you from having fun; but it's another thing to swim with bull sharks intentionally. And we're in this series we're calling "Shark-Infested Thinking," and we said last week that there are these shark thoughts that swim into our minds and start circling in your brain, and they take a bite out of your happiness.
Worried thoughts, fearful thoughts, insecure thoughts, negative thoughts, self-loathing thoughts, judgmental thoughts, those self-destructive shark thoughts. And you can't help it when a shark thought swims into your mind, but you don't have to intentionally swim with them. You don't have to focus on them. If you focus on the self-destructive thoughts, they become self-destructive patterns, and these ingrained patterns of thinking build up to become barriers in our brain to keep us stuck. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the world's largest coral reef, and it stretches for over 1,430 miles. And, of course, it was made by coral, these tiny sea creatures, a little at a time over years.
Now, the Great Barrier Reef is so immense, you can see it from space. And we all know that coral is so strong that it can sink ships, and that's the way it is with each tiny destructive thought. When you focus on them over and over again for years, they become great barriers in the brain, and they sink us and keep us from breaking free from those destructive habit patterns that develop. The barriers you're facing right now in your life are not the barriers that are holding you back. The barrier that you're facing right now that overwhelms you is not the barrier that's keeping you stuck. It's the barrier in your brain that keeps you stuck and doesn't allow you to make those positive and powerful changes.
What I'm saying is your problem is not really your problem. Your problem is how you're thinking about the problem. Our greatest barriers are the barriers in our brains. But the good news is the Bible tells us that these barriers in your brain can be torn down, and you can break free from these destructive habit patterns. Romans 12:2 is our key passage for this series, and it says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind".
You see, you'll either be conformed or transformed. You'll either conform to the destructive thought pattern that builds up the barriers in your brain, or you'll be transformed by changing what you focus on, so you can break free to change. To change your life, you first have to change the way you think. Transformation always starts in the brain, and today we're going to see that there is no barrier in your brain or in your life that God can't break down so you can experience a breakthrough. In Joshua chapter 6, we see the people of Israel entering the promised land. They just came out of the desert. They enter the promised land, and the very first thing they face is a great barrier: the walls of Jericho.
So, open your Bibles to Joshua chapter 6. And would you follow along with me? Let's stand together. "Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them, sound a large blast on the trumpets. Have the whole army give a loud shout. Then the wall of the city will collapse, and the army will go up, everyone straight in.'"
You can be seated. God knocks the great barrier the Israelites are facing down. The wall collapses. The Israelites win the battle. But first, God had to knock down the barrier in their brains before he could knock down the barrier in their lives. And there are a couple of things about barriers you need to know, so that it'll change your thinking; because if you don't understand these two things, you're going to be frustrated in life, and your barriers are going to get the best of you. First, barriers block our perspective.
Now, the battle of Jericho was the first battle the Israelites faced when they entered the promised land. Finally, they get into the promised land after being in the desert for 40 years, and I'm sure they're thinking, "We just got our biggest barrier behind us. I mean, sure, we're going to fight a few battles. Sure, we're going to have a few problems, but this is gonna be a cake walk compared to the desert". Then the first city they get to is Jericho, and they're faced with this enormous wall. Can you just imagine being an Israelite? You've been in the desert 40 years. You finally make it to this promised land, and the first thing you see is this overwhelming barrier, this huge wall that looked totally impossible to overcome from their perspective.
You see, that's because walls block our perspective. It's really hard to see what God is up to when we hit a wall, because the wall keeps us from seeing the true situation. We can't see what's behind the barrier, and we start to lose perspective. If the Israelites could've seen what was behind that wall, they would've seen a really small population, a really small army, because Jericho was really a small little village. It just had an enormous wall, but we can't see what's behind the barrier. Only God can. And when we can't see what's behind the barrier, we start to lose perspective.
And some of you today are starting to lose your perspective, because you can't see what's behind the barrier you're facing. And maybe you've hit a wall, a wall of worry about a health problem in your life, or maybe it's a wall of depression, or a wall of grief that's overwhelming, or maybe you've hit a wall in your marriage that seems insurmountable, or a wall in your workplace, and you're starting to lose perspective, because all you can see is the wall in front of your face. You're just too close to the wall. You can't see anything but the wall. You can't see what's behind the barrier. Only God can. You're just too close to the wall. It's right in your face, so that's all you can see.
So, today, I would just encourage you to back your brain up and get away from the wall a little bit. Stop focusing on the wall and focus on worship. We said last week that worship is focusing on God. Stop focusing on what you can't do and focus on what God can do. And here's what God can do. In Jeremiah 32, verse 27, this is a promise for someone out there today, probably every one of us, because we need to remember what God can do instead of focusing on the wall. "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me"? No wall is too tall for the God of the universe. Jeremiah 32:27 is the verse I want you to memorize this week and mediate on, and put it into your mind and life.
In this series, every week I'm giving you a verse, a promise to memorize, to meditate on, to think about all week, to read it, and whether you feel like it or not, believe it, because something happens when you focus on the truth of God's Word. It begins to change your brain. Science has caught up with the Bible now, and science now tells us, with all the research on the brain, that when you focus on something, your brain has these physiological changes that take place. Your brain actually changes physically. And according to whatever you focus on, you focus on God's truth, then your thinking starts to change, your brain starts to change, the barrier starts to break down, so you can break free to positive change.
And so pray for the wall to fall this week. Memorize, meditate on the truth, and the barrier in your brain will start to break up. Pray for the wall to fall. But there's a second thing about barriers you need to understand. Barriers seem immovable. It seems like barriers just can't be moved, that there's no way around them, and many times we just accept them in our lives. "That's the way it'll always be. It's never gonna change". In Joshua 6:1, it says, "Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in".
So, the Israelites, as soon as they entered the promised land, come up to Jericho. They see this huge wall that seems insurmountable, and then the doors are shut, locked, and barred. So, there's no way over the wall. There's no way through the door. And barred doors seem like immovable barriers. Have you ever been praying and believing God, you feel like God's given you a promise, you're sure of it, and so you're believing God for that promise, that God's gonna come through, and then a door gets slammed shut in your face, and the shark thoughts start swimming in and circling in your mind? And before you know it, a feeding frenzy of doubt, confusion, and fear just takes over, shark thoughts like, "I'll never get through this. I'll never get over this hurt. I'll always be stuck in this addiction. This is an immovable barrier. There's no way to get through it. It's impossible. It will never move".
You can't help feeling those shark thoughts, but if you focus on them, that way of thinking gets locked in, and then you fall into what I call an immovable mindset, because the barrier is not immovable; God can move it, God can tear it down. But your mindset becomes immovable, and it keeps God from working in your life. Isaiah 22:22 says, "When he, God, opens doors, no one will be able to close them. When he closes doors, no one will be able to open them". When God opens a door, no one can shut it. When you get a door slammed in your face, just remember no human being can keep that door from being blown down by God. What I'm saying is, just because someone tells you it's impossible, don't you believe it until God has the final say, because God always has the final word.
Now, sometimes God will shut a door in our lives to redirect us, but I think there's a lot of times when we get a door slammed in our face, and we give up, because those barred doors seem like immovable barriers when really it's just the last stand where God wants to knock the door down so we can possess the promise.
I want you to see, though, three things that Joshua did so he could break free from the barrier. I want you to see these three things, because the same three things that we need to do, if we're going to break free from the barriers in our brain so God can break down the barrier in our lives. The first one is start stepping out in faith. You've gotta take that first step whether you feel like it or not. In Joshua 6:2, it says, "Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'See, I've delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.'" So, when they get to Jericho, God says to Joshua, "See, I've given you the victory". And Joshua's thinking, "I don't really see it. All I see is this enormous wall in front of me".
And God says, "See, Joshua, I've given you the victory. I've delivered the army of Jericho into your hands and all its fighting men, and its king, and all of its people. See, I've given you the victory". And Joshua's going, "I just see a wall here". What do you do when what you see doesn't line up with what God says? Let's get real this morning, because this happens. Sometimes we are going, "Praise God, you know, I just see it," when we don't really see it. What do you do when what you see doesn't line up with what God says? What do you do when what you feel doesn't line up with what God says is real? I mean, what do you do when God's Word says you'll be filled with joy as a believer, but all you feel is a debilitating depression that you can't see your way out of?
Well, what do you do when God's Word says the truth is you'll be filled with peace that no one can explain, but all you feel is an anxiety you can't get rid of? What do you do when God says you've won the victory, but all you see is defeat all around you? What do you do when God says you have infinite value and worth, but you feel worthless? What do you do? Let's admit that happens. What do you do when what you see doesn't line up with what God says? You believe what God says whether you feel it or not. You see, you've gotta choose the truth over your feelings. Feel your feelings. Admit your feelings. There's nothing wrong with feeling those ways. Bring them to God, but then claim the truth over your feelings.
You know that feelings follow actions. I mean, this is proven in so many ways in research. Feelings always follow actions. A lot of times, we wait to do something before we feel like doing it, and that keeps us from really breaking free from all the destructive habits that we're stuck in. What you've gotta do is step in faith whether you feel it or not; then the feelings will come along. You've gotta obey God and take that one step, and then so many times the feelings come along, but don't let feelings dictate your actions. That's why it's so important to obey God, even when you don't feel it. Now, Joshua had to take a small step of faith to obey God. God said, "See, I won the victory for you". But what did he have to do? He had to step out and claim it, and that first step he had to take to believe God.
Then God gave him the power to take the next step and the next step and the next step. And you've gotta take that first step of faith. Disregard your feelings and take the first step of faith. Come to church when you don't feel like it, because God says, "Weekly worship is something I command you to do because you need it". So, you need to be at church, or connect online and worship, because God says, "Weekly worship is essential in obeying me". But sometimes you don't feel like coming to church, do you? Some of you did not feel like coming to church today, but you're here, and now you're feeling it, because feelings follow actions. It's the times when you don't feel like coming to church, and you come to church anyway, that you feel it the most, and you feel God's presence, and God speaks to you, and it's so powerful and life-changing.
You think, "Man, I'm glad I didn't miss that. The enemy wanted me to feel like not coming. I didn't choose my feelings. I chose the truth, and I obeyed God". And maybe that one step of faith is just getting up in the morning and taking a step, because you feel like you can't take another step. You're going through such pain. You feel like you can't one more step. And you do, and then God gives you the power to take the next step and the next step. God says, "I've won the victory for you, but you've gotta step into that victory. You've gotta take action by taking that one step".
And then secondly, you've gotta keep stepping in faith even when you don't see any progress. You see, we take a step of faith, we're, "Okay, where's the victory? Where's the victory"? And God says, "Take another step". Joshua 6:7 says, "And he, Joshua, ordered the army, 'Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.' So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there".
So, the Israelite army marches around the city walls one time, blowing trumpets loudly. And it probably took them about an hour to get around the city wall. And then after they circled it one time, they go back to camp and spend the night. There's been no progress. Nothing has happened. They do the same thing for six more days. And then on the seventh day, they walk around the city six times, and what do they have to show for it? Nothing, zero, no progress whatsoever. Now, if I had been God, I would've done it differently. And I think this is a really good way to motivate people. If I'd have been God, I would've had them walk around the city one time, and then I would've had a few bricks fall off the top just to keep them motivated.
That's a good way to motivate people. They need to see some progress, right? And then on the second time around the city, I would have about 4 or 5 feet of bricks just fall off, and they would've gone back to their camp, going, "Wow, did you see what God did today? I mean, that wall is crumbling. I can't wait to get up in the morning. I'm so highly motivated, I can't wait to get up in the morning. This wall is coming down. We can see it each and every day a little more". But I'm not God. Thankfully, I'm not God. And they had walked around for seven days. On the seventh day, they walked around six times. They had nothing to show for it. Not one brick had fallen from the barrier, but God had a plan.
What do you do when you're praying for a miracle, and you're believing God, and you're following God with all your heart, but you don't see any progress? You just leave the results to God, because he will come through. He always does. Just because you can't see anything going on in your life doesn't mean he's not working, especially in your heart, changing your character. But then there's the third thing. Keep believing until the barrier falls. They walked around the wall every day for six days. On the seventh day, they walked around six times.
What if they would've given up after that sixth time and said, "Joshua, I mean, this isn't working. We're still doing the same thing, and nothing is happening. You remember, this is the definition of insanity? Keep doing the same things, expecting the outcome to be different? Joshua, this makes no sense". You see, Joshua never told the people of Israel that it was on the seventh time the wall was going to fall. God told Joshua, if you study the passage, you see that God told Joshua, but Joshua never told the people that on that seventh time the wall was gonna fall.
Now, why didn't he? It may have been because he wanted them to know that their leader was listening to God, so they could follow their leader and be assured that he was really listening to God. He was struggling with doubt and all those things, too. He was just like them, but yet he listened to God, and he was obeying God, and he wanted them to learn that, but they didn't know. I mean, after that sixth time, on that seventh day, they didn't know the next lap was gonna bring the victory. The next lap was gonna break down the barrier. The next lap was gonna knock the door down. They didn't know that. They could've quit after that sixth one and said, "Joshua, forget it. This isn't working. We don't trust you anymore".
But they took that next lap, not knowing that was going to be the victory lap, not knowing that was going to be the one that would bring the barrier down. They did it anyway. They just kept walking until the wall fell. If it would've taken 8, if it would've taken 8 more days, it would've taken 60 laps. And by the way, the number six is the imperfect number in the Bible, the number that falls short, but the number seven is always symbolizing the perfect number in the Bible. And it's why it's all through the Scripture, the number seven is the perfect number.
And so some of you are on your sixth lap, and you're about to give up, when God's perfect timing is coming. God's perfect timing is on its way, and he knows when that is. His timing is always perfect. Our timing is imperfect. So we have to trust God's timing. And what I'm saying is, you don't know when that next lap is going to bring the victory. You don't know when the victory lap is coming, but it's coming. And so what do you do when you don't see anything? You take the next step, and you take the next lap, and you keep walking in faith, and you keep believing, you keep trusting, and don't you give up right before the blessing. You don't know what's going to happen in the next lap, but you take the next lap, and you expect God to come through.
You say, "This could be the lap, so I'm gonna take it". And if God didn't come through on that lap, then you keep walking. "This could be the lap. I'm gonna take another lap. I'm gonna keep walking. I'm not gonna stop walking in faith just because I don't see anything, because God's Word is always true, and I'm not gonna give up right before the blessing. I'm not gonna give up on the sixth time around, when the seventh time, this next lap is going to bring the victory".
What I'm saying to you is, you keep walking, because the walls are going to fall down. You keep walking until the walls fall down, because they're coming down. If God says it, you can count on it. When God says the barrier's gonna be blown up, it's gonna be blown up, and so you can keep walking in faith, and you can look for it, because it's coming. And don't you dare quit on that sixth lap, when you've just got one more to go. When the blessing is just around the bend, don't you dare stop walking in faith. And some of you needed to hear that today, because you're about to throw in the towel, and you're on your sixth lap.
Victory is the next lap. God's getting ready to knock the wall down. We've gotta keep believing until the barrier falls. I want you to look at this last verse, Joshua 6:14. It says, "So on the second day, they marched around the city once and returned to camp. They did this for six days. On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. The seventh time around when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, 'Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.'"
And the walls came tumbling down. The only thing they did differently, only two things on that seventh day is they marched around seven times, and then they gave a shout. They'd never done that, a shout because they claimed the victory right before it happened.